US Crude Oil Exports Continue to Grow.. EIA

From the EIA’s This Week In Petroleum:

”In the first half of 2019, U.S. exports of crude oil increased to average 2.9 million barrels per day (b/d), an increase of 966,000 b/d from the first half of 2018. Also in the first half of 2019, U.S. crude oil exports set a new record-high monthly average of 3.2 million b/d in June 2019 (Figure 1). The number of U.S. crude oil export destinations also continued to grow, and now exceeds the number of U.S. crude oil import sources.”

“The increase in the number of U.S. crude oil export destinations is the result of

• Growing demand from refineries abroad for light-sweet crude oil
• Interconnected infrastructure to export greater volumes of U.S. crude oil
• Developing infrastructure to enable larger cargo sizes

And, this:

”National and international regulations increasingly limit the amount of sulfur present in transportation fuels. As global demand for heavy residual oils declines, many less complex refineries outside the United States, which can’t process and remove sulfur from heavy-sour crude oils, are processing more of the lighter and sweeter crude oils. To supply this increasing demand, U.S. port infrastructure along the U.S. Gulf Coast is expanding to accommodate increased crude oil tanker traffic and larger crude oil tankers loading for export. In addition, new and expanded pipelines are being built to transport crude oil from areas such as the Permian and Eagle Ford to the U.S. Gulf Coast.”